Tuesday, January 12, 2010

3 fish....

this could easily be a Christain painting - the three fish. i love to include fish into my work whenever i can.

those who know me know that i will use the fish as a way to get around artist's block. have you ever gotten just so far into your work and realized you don't know what to do next, something seems to be missing? when that happens to me, i have a few tricks. my favorite trick is to use a fish image. i love it. especially when it is random. if you happen to look at my website (www.lisabebiart.com)- you might recognize the paintings where i had this issue. one of my favorite of all time paintings was of this tough guy leaning against a wall - he was painted in greens and reds (it was xmas time) and i had nothing else. i placed a fish leaning against the wall next to him -like a couple bad boys. i named it "happy chris and his fish" - or happy christfish - it was my xmas painting and it sold immediately. i wonder who bought that..... as i wonder most of he time who buys and why.

clearly the day i painted this one - i had no idea what to use as a subject matter.

other ways to conquer "block" is to ask a friend (who is an artist). really, uhm, a husband or loved one doesn't work that well for this trick. they will say the most boring things (sorry baby) - because probably it will be the first thing that comes to mind for them and just by the nature of first thoughts - it will be trite and unimaginative. artists are special people - generally, just saying. well, my friends at least, don't think inside the box. they may think of the trite answer first, but they know better than to say it out loud.

but some of my friends, truly the first ting that comes to mind will be off the wall. soem people might call them KooKoo, but.... love you guys, you know who you are.

a third way to overcome block is to pick a subject out of a hat (pre-make ideas and put them in your hat, of course) or flip through a magazine and look for images that have something in common with your piece that is not obvious.

for instance, if you look at an earlier post (below) you will see what i mean by finding usual combinations-- the aloe plant reminded me of the letter "y". it could have just as easily reminded me of a crown, glass shards, flower petal points, funky hair, the number one- repeated or even the letter "w", etc.

some artists say they look at other artists' artwork. personally, i steer clear of that because i don't want to have a fight with myself about copying someone else's work. gives me a headache. but you could do it if you wanna. not saying it is wrong.

****

i am happy to say that i will be demo -ing for arnold drummer at CHA this year - an art journal of techniques. i will be at the pajama party on friday, January 22 (i think) - i will let you know what time and all that as soon as i know. i heard that some of the demo will go "live" or i will be interviewed. should be fun. i will be ready to be interviewed this time - not like the other day when i was putting up my show at Bard Hall. See youtube post below. now that interview was spontaneous and was actually done by someone in the show who used her telephone - pretty good results for that, i thought.

and BTW, i just purchased 10 bottles of good wine for the reception next tuesday night! come on over - its open to the public -see sidebar for details.

13 comments:

Love this and what you said about asking a family member. I try to stop asking, and I don't ask as much as I used to because of online friends. MY dh will just give me a blank stare and say, that's nice like it is, or what are you going to do with it, and then what are we gonna eat for supper?

I love these fish too! They are wonderful. I am so proud of you for actually blogging so frequently.

I, like Brooke, will be starting classes again soon so I am spending all the time I can relaxing and creating. This means ignoring my blog and creating.

I am not "blocked" like I can be, but I have been trying to create in the evenings while watching a movie with Chris, even if I am not feeling creative. I have been using oil pastels in journalling and over small acrylic flat panels. One day I will actually take the time to photograph or scan them in.

One last thing, I agree with you that artists are special people who actually know what works for them as a go-to for the creative spark. I am lucky that my partner, Chris, is a musician and artist because he actually has great ideas to get started making stuff again! Yay!

Hey Lisa - thanks for following my blog - I love your paintings, especially the fishy ones! (I love anything remotely sea related, must be a Piscean thing.) I get that thing when I'm painting too, where I hit a wall and can't think what to do next, so I really enjoyed reading your ideas about how to reinspire myself! Tara x

These are fab. I love fish imagery, though I get mad when people insist I'm a Pisces. I'll be checking back to see if you blow me out of the water (fish pun continued?) with the super-exquisite personal graph you're going to take on. Thanks for your support!

Great tips Lisa. I usually start puttering around in my craft room organizing stuff until something jumps out at me. If nothing does, well that at least I've done some organizing and don't feel completely useless! And thank you for the comments and the follow on my blog. You have no idea how much that made my day :D